Not That Kind of Guy 2
by Darksider
Summary: McKeller. The Genii take Keller whilst on a humanitarian mission. McKay was never much for standing around when his friends were in danger. Now the woman he loves is at risk... i don't think the two galaxies are ready for 'this' McKay...
1. Chapter 1

**Not That Guy 2**

"It's a suicide mission, Dr. McKay."

Before that moment, I'm not sure I could have hated anyone more than the Genii. Woolsey was certainly trying hard for that top spot. I spun round in the doorway and glared at him.

"So that's IT!?" I spat out darkly.

To his credit, Woolsey probably was conflicted as hell but i was far too angry and scared to take notice of anyone else's feelings at the moment.

Things had been going too well for us in Pegasus of late. The Wraith were finally contained. Our Fleet presence in this galaxy was at an all-time high with seven Daedalus-class vessels stationed at Atlantis. We were close to developing our own version of a ZPM.

More importantly than any of that...Jennifer wanted to get married.

God, how I wished i'd followed my initial impulse and scrounged up a priest there and then after she first suggested it.

That was a month ago.

Early this week, a call came in from one of our allies asking for medical assisstance. Some stubborn epidemic they were having a hard time fixing. Jen, of course, dropped everything and led the relief effort out there in the space of a few hours.

Two days later, we got an emergency call from the squad that went with them. They were under attack by the Genii.

Sheppard and Lorne immediately mounted a rescue op but it was a trap. Four marines dead, eleven wounded. Sheppard was one of them, shot in the chest. They'll think he'll make it but he's uncouncious and likely to remain so for the duration.

Ronon's mad as hell that he was offworld at the time.

The Genii...hate us. They hate that we came here and 'fixed' everything without suffering like they have for generations. They begrudge us our Ancient technology, our ships...our 'wealth' as they call it.

They ignore the fact that we would probably share some stuff with them if they weren't so needlessly hostile.

They see everything we have and they want it.

Kidnapping Jennifer and her people is, for them, just another way of getting it.

Damn them to hell.

I turn to Caldwell who was standing in one corner of the office looking pensive. "Let's just take the Fleet to the Genii homeworld and start blowing up cities until they give her back!"

Caldwell, for all his gung-ho, military agression, glared at me with a mixture of distaste and sympathy. An odd combination on his face, i noted absently.

"The Fleet isn't in the business of blowing up cities anymore, Doctor." Caldwell replied, referring to the first and only use of the 'Horizon' missile.

Whilst the situation had been different and the Replicators were machines, the reaction of the use of 'Horizon' had been curiously unanimous amongst those in the military and government. It was relegated to one of those things that we worked hard to develop and then wondered why.

The fact that I, of all people, was advocating its use once more shows you just how much Jennifer was my moral compass.

"Besides, Doctor," Caldwell continued, "the Genii live underground. Our probe indicated that they are several kilometes below the surface. We would literally have to tear the planet apart to get to them. Sending in ground forces would result in a bloodbath on both sides."

"So we do nothing?!" I cried out in disgust.

Woolsey shook his head. "We'll try the diplomatic approaches first and see what this is all about. In the meantime, we'll develop a suitable military response. For the moment, we'll have to wait. I'm sure they won't act precipitously and Dr Keller and her people are still alive."

I nodded absently. These people were going to be of no help.

If I was going to save Jennifer, it was going to be up to me.

Without another word, I spun in place and strode out of the office.

* * *

As i headed towards my office, Ronon fell into step beside me. I said nothing but i'm sure my expression gave away the results of my conversation with Woolsey.

"So what do we do?" He asked grimly.

I never broke my stride. "We go after her."

Ronon smiled.

* * *

The thing that some people don't get, even people as smart as those assigned to Atlantis, is that if you know the system, you can control the system and nobody knows the system better than me.

Woolsey and the IOC would be horrified to learn how thoroughly invested I was into the Atlantis computer system. It took me less than thrity minutes to have at least seven different orders from four different department heads having equipment that i would need, delivered to Jumper Bay 2 over the course of eight hours.

All with Woolsey's 'authorization'.

I sat down with Ronon and laid out my general plan. We still had the scans from our earlier visits to the Genii homeworld. i had no idea where she and her people would be held but once i got into their computer networks, I would learn everything I would need to know in short order.

I 'monitored' Woolsey's conversation with the Genii government. As expected, they all said a lot of stuff without saying anything of value. The Genii were clearly stonewalling for some reason and just as clearly, had no intention of returning our team. They did even ask for anything.

That meant they specifically wanted Jennifer and her people.

Shaking my head, I grabbed a bite to eat and waited. Everything was in place, I simply needed to wait until shift-change before making my move.

Eventually, shift-change apporached. Typing in a few command sequences, I set my programs running, grabbed my jacket and left for the jumper bay.

* * *

Ronan walked casually along the corridor towards Operations.

McKay's plan was reckless, dangerous and irresponsible.

He grinned. H always knew the little scientist had it in him He guessed McKay just needed a good woman to bring it out of him.

Thinking of Jennifer erased all trace of his amusment. Jennifer reminded him too much of his wife.

For a very short while, he had considered starting a relationship with her but it was easy enough to see that he was looking at her and seeing only his Melena.

It would have been doing her and his wife a great dishonor.

Besides, he saw how she looked at McKay. He wouldn't have been able to compete there.SHaking off the familiar feelings of loss, Ronon put his game face on as he climbed the stairs to Operations.

"I'm reading activity in Jumper Bay 2. Jumper is launching." Someone cried out.

Perfect. He was right on schedule.

"On whose authorization?" Someone else asked sternly.

"Checking...i'm reading Mr Woolsey's code."

"That's impossible. Woolsey would have cleared any departure with me first. Lock down the Jumper Bay."

"I'm trying, sir. The system just shut down, i'm locked out."

Just then, the Stargate started dialling under the control of KcKay's automatic programs. Doors around the Stargate area began slamming shutdown in an abbreviated lockdown sequence. Nothing else was effected, just enough to delay any interferance for the next five minutes.

The one in charge opened his mouth to respond when Ronan calmly raised his gun and shot the man in the back, stunning him unconcious. With no hesitation, Ronan stunned the other two staff members before they could do anything.

The one in command wasn't any idiot and that was precisely why McKay had asked him to neutralise everyone in Operations. When working with the quality of people here on Atlantis, relying on someone's incompetence was a surefire way of getting caught.

Without pausig to admire his handiwork, he ran to the side of the entrance to ops, just as the two on-duty Marines charged up the stairs to investigate the gunfire. The Stargate exploded to life and the two Marine were torn between securing Operations and defending the Stargate.

That hesitation was all Ronon needed and in a quick flurry of blows and the two guards were down. They'd be sore once they woke up but they were alive.

The door to the jumper bay opened and a Jumper floated gently down, its rear door lowering.

Ronan smiled widely as he ran down the stairs and fairly leapt into the Jumper that was packed with all sorts of equipment.

"Go!" He called out.

* * *

McKay turned back to his console grimly as he propelled the Jumper into the Stargate.

"Hold on, Jen. i'm coming."


	2. Chapter 2

Okay guys and girls, thanks for all the reviews...the response was loads better than i was expecting.

i'm getting ready to post the final arc of WHL but this is just my way of dealing with the stress that WHL is causing me. :)

this is a fun fic for me, an experiment if you will. None of this is beta'd or seriously proofed...i'm kinda typing this out, bunny after bunny with only a vague idea of where i'm going.

So enjoy and when it's done, i'll tidy it up and repost.

**Chapter 2**

"HE WHAT?"

Major Lorne winced as Woolsey's shouted echoed slightly in the relatively small confines of the Operations Centre. "As far as we can tell, he put a freeze on the computer systems until he was clear. By the time we manually opened the doors, he and Ronon were long gone in a Jumper."

Woolsey glared at the Major, wishing it was one raging ego-manical scientist in front of him instead. "Do we at least know where he gated to?"

Lorne did what any good soldier in his position would do and looked towards Zelenka, who was puttering away at the laptop beside them, obviously trying to remain invisible. The scientist felt the burning stare of Woolsey fall upon him almost immediately and shot a betrayed look towards the Major.

With an attempt at a disarming grin, Zelenka gestured at the computer display in front of him. "Rodney left a very impressive worm behind. It systematically went after primary security systems and introduced a small error checking subroutine which caused each system to reset itself continuously…"

A small choking sound caused him to look back towards Woolsey, at which point he suddenly wished he hadn't as the man had gone a distinctly dark shade of red.

"Do. We. Know. Where. He. WENT?!" Woolsey ground out tightly.

Zelenka shook his head. "The worm erased all his tracks and is, even now, in the process of deleting itself. All systems are back under our control."

Woolsley took a deep breath, trying to regain control. "Fine. He's gone and we've no way of stopping him from carrying out what is, it's pretty safe to say, a rescue attempt to save the good Dr. Keller and her people."

He looked over at Chuck who was sat at the main console. "Delete Dr. McKay's and Ronon's IDC codes from the computer. As of this moment, the pair of them are consider AWOL and compromised."

Chuck hesitated for a moment but Woolsey's face was enough to convince him to respond with alacrity. Several key presses later and, "Codes removed, sir."

Woolsey opened his mouth to address the rest of the staff when a distinctly familiar cough was filled Operations.

"Ahem! Testing, one, two..."

McKay! Eyes wide, Woolsey spun to face Zelenka who was already tapping away at his computer. "It's a recording, set to go off when we deleted Rodney's IDC."

Rodney's face suddenly appeared on all the displays around the room. "Yes, yes, Zelenka…it was trivial for me to predict that Mr. Woolsey would delete my IDC codes…enough already." McKay's voice was full of amusement.

"Sorry, Rodney." Zelenka replied and blushed deeply when he realized he had apologized to Rodney's recording of all things.

"Mr. Woolsey." Rodney called out firmly. "Let me begin by saying that I honestly do regret having to go behind your back on this. If there was any other choice, I would have followed your lead with pride for you have proven to be an able leader over the past few years. Unfortunately, your insistence on following procedure with the Genii was going to put Jennifer's life at risk and this was something I simply could not allow."

"Obviously, I have a plan. With a little luck, Ronon and I will be successful and our missing colleagues will be back within the week. I will regroup at one of our allies and contact you from there for pick-up."

Rodney's expression became regretful. "I'm sorry for the position I have put you in, sir. But…they have Jennifer." He took a deep breath and nodded towards the camera. "I have undertaken this rescue mission with a full comprehension of what I am risking and the consequences of those actions."

He opened his mouth to say something before, apparently, changing his mind. "Wish us luck, sir. I hope to see you soon. McKay out."

As the monitors all went blank, Woolsey felt his anger drain away. Without saying anything, he walked over towards the door leading outside, to the balcony. No one broke the silence as he stepped through and the door shut behind him. He looked up at the night sky and sighed deeply.

"Good luck, McKay."

* * *

Rodney grimaced as he tore into a ration pack and chewed on the banana beef bar absently.

He had initially hoped he might luck out and immediately pick up their subcutaneous transponders but the Genii had chosen the locations of their underground cities specifically because of the sensor- and emission-scattering properties of the ore in the crust of the planet. By turning off their reactors, he could easily see how the Wraith had been fooled into think all there was to the Genii was a few farming communities on the surface.

"Any luck?" Ronon asked as he started reassembling his weapon that he had just finished cleaning.

"No." Rodney replied. "We're going to have to go with the primary plan and find a trunk line into their computer network."

Ronon nodded. After leaving Atlantis, they ended up on an empty world remarkable only in its blandness. They had taken a couple of hours to check over all the gear they had stashed before Rodney had begun to feel the pressure of time.

* * *

Using an appropriated grenade launcher, Ronon fired a volley of smoke-grenades through the Stargate that was dialed into the Genii homeworld. Earlier probes had revealed an awesome array of defenses set up around the gate at their end so it was deemed necessary to repeat the same trick they had used to get past the Wraith cruisers on the Shrine world three years ago. Rodney had added his own twist to the technique and had programmed a MALP to follow them through and begin scanning everything with every sensor it possessed.

It wouldn't take a big leap in imagination for the Genii to conclude that it was simply a reconnaissance mission by Atlantis. Difficult for Woolsey to explain but he was confident the man wouldn't give him up.

With the area filled with smoke, the invisible Jumper had made its way through the Genii forces without incident. The MALP self-destructed once Genii soldiers realized it was there and began to approach it. Ronon grimaced at using stealth tactics. It wasn't his way.

"Look, Chewie, we can't afford to let them know we're here, comprende? On the bright side, there's no way in hell Woolsey will send a battlecruiser to come pick us up so the only way we're making it out of here is by blowing up most of those soldiers on the way out."

That definitely made the big Satedan happy.

It was also night-time on the homeworld and after flying around for a while, taking passive scans of the planet, they eventually decided on the 'capital' where they had been several times before and landed near a tertiary access point in the woods over a kilometer from one of the main access hubs.

It was from here that they would make their way into the Genii cities.

* * *

Ronan finished reassembling his weapon and slid it into his holster. He was already wearing his blade, a dozen knives and he picked up a large assault rifle from one of the mil-spec containers.

Rodney, on the other hand, was strapping various bits of equipment to himself, some of which Ronon recognized, most he didn't. He offered Rodney a similar assault rifle to the one he held but McKay shook his head. "Just gimme the P90."

Ronon nodded and turned to grab the smaller but not that much less effective weapon. When he turned round, McKay was filling a rucksack with half a dozen Wraith stunners they had appropriated over the years.

As the Satedan lowered the Jumper's ramp, McKayhad clipped the weapon to his vest and picked up a rather large device mounted on a tripod with thick legs. Running over his mental checklist one last time he nodded in satisfaction. "You ready?"

Ronon grinned with delicious anticipation. "Always."

After a brief moment of shared determination, they stepped out into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Jennifer Keller, Chief Medical Officer of Atlantis, Pegasus Galaxy stared at the pages of data in front of her and fumed.

Less than a week ago, she had been called to the world Ditalia to help fight a particular virulent and unknown bug that had suddenly appeared within the general population of that world. The Talians had never seen this bug in the history of their world so it was a good guess that the virus might an offworld visitor. One of her biggest fears amongst the Stargate Medical Division on Earth was the way Stargate travel could act as a vector for both biological warfare and a native plague. All the disease would need is a decent incubation period of any length and it could spread amongst hundreds of worlds before anybody could realize there was a problem.

It was enough to cause a lot of nightmares amongst the medical planners of the SMD.

Right now though, her problems were a lot more immediate.

Once arriving on Ditalia, her investigation into the virus had revealed a few things almost immediately. It wasn't airborne per se, but it did and could survive a limited time in the open air so sneezing and coughing were practical vectors for this virus. The virus was also a mean one, immediately attacking the immune system of its host. A lot of the bodies natural defenses were used up in the first two days just fighting this things assault. If the patient could survive past the five day mark, the odds of survival became fifty-fifty. Past the eleven day mark and their chances of survival went up considerably.

The biggest problem with the virus was that although the more powerful anti-viral treatments were effective it took a truly staggering amount of conventional medicine to eradicate the virus completely. A single person would use large quantities of medicine just keeping this thing down. If they were taken off the drugs too early, it would flare up again.

This was not something she had even seen before in nature. It was as if it had been specifically tailored to be a resource hog.

This was her first clue that something was horribly wrong with the situation.

Two days into her investigation and she couldn't deny the results. This virus had been engineered. It seemed to be a weaponized variant of a virus well documented in the Ancient Database.

When she had brought these findings to the attention of the Talian doctors, they had been horrified to realize that they had been deliberately infected.

There must have been a spy of some sort amongst the Talians for less than three hours later, a massive wave of Genii swept through the town and took her and her people hostage. It was a short time later that she found out that the Genii in charge, one Merik Daron, had purposely allowed a distress call to be sent back to Atlantis and that the resulting rescue team, including one Colonel Sheppard, had been nearly slaughtered in the attempt.

* * *

It wasn't long before she and her people were taken to the Genii homeworld and it was there that everything fell into place.

The Genii were sick from this virus.

Called the Novan Plague after some historical Genii God of Death, it had appeared on their homeworld a little over a month ago. The Genii weren't complete idiots. It hadn't taken them long to come to the same conclusions as she had about the virus.

The Genii lived in caved cities under the surface of their world. Damp, overly populated and very confined cities. The virus could had asked for a better place to propagate. Initially, the Genii had done well fighting the virus. Militarized and well disciplined, it was a disaster but one they were handling. Then the true horror of the disease came into play. They were simply running out of medicine.

Whoeover had designed the virus had done their jobs well. Instead of making it strong enough to survive anything that could be thrown at it, a proposition of staggering proportions, they had simply made the virus resistant enough that it wasn't logistically possible to fight the disease if it got itself properly entrenched amongst the general population.

They need help. They needed a more effective cure.

And for that there was only one place to turn to.

Atlantis.

Jennifer was mad beyond all belief because she was sitting her in a barely adequate lab, trying to decipher a sophisticated virus with sub-standard equipment because the Genii were too proud to ask for help.

Instead they had to infect and innocent world and kill hundreds of people just to get their hands on Atlantean medical know how.

If they'd ASKED she would have helped them without all the bloodshed!!

* * *

One of her people approached here holding a clipboard with a thick stack of paper attached to it. "Here are the latest results from that piece of crap spectral analyser."

Jennifer looked up at the other doctor with a wan smile. "How are you doing, Mike?" She asked him, as she took the results fro him. He had a bandage over one eyebrow where he had been koshed by one of the Genii guards for defending a younger nurse from one of the more hate-filled Genii soldiers.

"I'm doing better, Jennifer. Thanks. I'll feel a whole lot better once your boyfriend gets here. I think I'll even look forward to hearing him whine about having to travel forty thousand lightyears just to come get you." He replied with a rueful grin.

Keller's responding smile was equal parts amusement, confusion and hope. "What makes you think Rodney's on his way?"

Mike grin turned into a soft smile. 'Jennifer, that man worships the ground you walk on. This is the man that has blown up several planets, travelled through different universes and through time and basically saved every single person in Atlantis nearly a hundred times over. All the while complaining about it, too." He finished with a small chuckle.

He looked down at her with curiosity in his eyes. "Please tell me you recognize how much of a hero your boyfriend is…"

Jennifer looked back at him ruefully. "Of course, I do. I just didn't realize that anyone else _did_. Whenever anyone talks about Rodney, it's always about his acerbic manners, his blunt and difficult persona and his ability to infuriate you with three well chosen words."

Mike nodded. "Well that's all true enough because that is the face he puts a lot of effort into projecting. Amongst the folks in operations, the military units and, surprisingly enough, the science division, that's all they see to McKay as well. But simply put, they're idiots. With the possible exception of Sheppard and Zelenka."

He pulled up a tall chair and dropped into it heavily. "Look, you know as well as any of us that working around patients who are sick, injured and dying means we get to see the core of a person more easily than anyone else. You saw the real McKay easily enough to fall in love with. What makes you think that the rest of us in Medical didn't see the same things in him as well. While I'll be the first to question _how_ you deal with his 'rough edges' day in day out, I and others have no doubt as to _why_ you do so. Quite frankly, the man is a minor god to those that know the real McKay."

Taking a deep breath, Mike hauled himself upright and laid a comforting hand on Jennifer's shoulder. "So to answer your question; I know Rodney's on his way to rescue you and by way of extension, all of us as well because that's quite simply the kind of guy McKay is."

With a gentle pat, Mike turned around and walked off towards some of the culture experiments a group of technicians were running.

Jennifer sat there with shining eyes before looking up, staring at a point far beyond the ceiling and the megatonnes of rock above her. "Come on, Rodney…save my ass."

.

.

.

. NOTES:-

This was going to be the entrance into the Genii caves for Rodney and Ronon but my bunnies are actually fighting each other now and I needed to get a Jennifer section down before her pixie smile made me melt into a pile of goo once more.

God, i love that woman. :) Have done since Firefly and if, by some small chance you 'Gaters haven't seen Jewel Staite as Kaylee then screw whatever plans you had for tomorrow and buy/rent/download Firefly/Serenity right away. it's worth the price of admission just for her.

Let me know if you think i'm rushing events too much; i'm going with a different style here and sticking to about 1200-1500 words per chapter. Like usual, I'm trying to strike a nominal balance between exposition and development but i've never tried it with so few words before so any feedback on this would be appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

At the bottom of the entrance shaft, McKay cursed under his breath as his foot got caught up in the ladder a little bit.

Ronon was already scanning the passageway in both directions with his weapon.

"Relax." McKay called out casually as he brushed himself down. "The lifesigns detector didn't pick up anyone within a hundred meters and no active electronics or power sources for nearly two hunded."

The Satedan let his guard drop marginally but continued to hold his weapon ready. "Which direction?" He asked tersely. He was not a man of words when on a mission.

McKay looked up from where he was kneeling down and checking the large device he had brought with him. "Oh…errr, that way. The passage splits into two about three hundred meters down and we go left. Going right will take us towards a main throughfare for the city whereas going left will allows to run parallel to it along a service shaft. Its along there we'll find our network junction. I hope."

The last two words were muttered almost inaudibly but Ronon caught them anyway. "You hope?" He didn't look thrilled at this particular revelation.

McKay picked up the tripod device and rolled his eyes in exasperation. "I'm a genius, not a god. I'm extrapolating their arterial systems based on what I saw the last time we were here. Look, Genii tech is a curious mix of the pathetically low and the barely adequate." He added with severe scorn. "What network systems they have will require numerous relays. Trust me, what we want is down there."

Ronon said nothing but nodded in compliance. Hefting his weapon, he headed off in the direction Rodney had indicated.

* * *

"Okay, I'm in."

Ronon glanced back from his position by the door. "And?"

With a heroic effort on his part, McKay managed not to roll his eyes the big lump of muscle. "Gimme me a second here…" His fingers flew over the tablet as he hacked his way into the Genii information network. It wasn't much of a challenge.

They had travelled the empity corridor, past the junction and down the service shaft until they had found a room that held a node for all Genii electronic communications. Once inside, McKay had pulled his tablet, set up and interface into the Genii network and fell silent.

Wary of being found, Ronon had simply taken up position with a clear field of fire at the door whilst eyeing the lifesigns detector with mistrust.

"Oh crap."

Ronon, who had returned his attention to door, winced. Whenever McKay said that, things went from bad to potentially devastating. "What?"

"The disease infecting the Talians…the Genii have it as well." Rodney replied darkly. "It's spread through all their cities. It must be why they kidnapped Jennifer."

"Are we infected?"

McKay turned back to his machine. "It possible, look this adds a layer of difficulty to proceedings but nothing immediate. It seems that our people aren't being held in a prison, they're being held in a research facility not all that far from here." Thinking furiously, he pulled up a map of the city and began making calculations of distances. It wouldn't quite reach but…

"Okay, this place will have to do." He announced with finality. He put his tablet down and began to extend the thick tripod attached to the device he had brought with him.

Ronan looked at the scientist curiously. "Are you going to tell me what that thing does now? You just said it would help if we have to fight our way out."

Rodney nodded absently. "It's a standard field emitter with some incredibly non-standard modifications. One of Zelenka's crazy ideas that actually panned out."

He placed the device upright and attached his tablet to it in order to calibrate it. "It can modify universal constants with its field of effect."

Silence greeted the explanation. At the sight of the Satedan's raised eyebrow and impatient look, McKay heaved a sigh of disgust. "There are any number of things I can do within the field. Turn the switch one way, I can stop all electrical activity in the human brain. Turn it the other, lower gravity..although that's a power hog like you wouldn't believe." He ended absently.

"So you're going to fry the brains of all the guards between here and lab where Jennifer is being held?" Ronon replied with understanding.

McKay shook his head. "No."

"No?!" Ronon had thought that sounded like a great idea….

"Of course not. It would fry any and ALL brains within the field, including us and our people when I turn it on."

Oh. Right.

"So what are you doing then?" The Satedan replied, miffed.

McKay grinned as the device powered up into standby mode. "What? Oh…look, back in our home Galaxy, a couple of advanced races neutralized our weapons completely without damaging them or appearing to do anything. We speculated on how it might have been achieved and one of the theories that we came up with was that they used a field emitter like this baby to lower a particular universal constant that prevented high-energy chemical reactions from taking place such as combustion."

Ronon switched his stare between the device and McKay. "It stops bullets from working."

McKay nodded with a happy smile. "It's brilliant. It has a lot of applications, many of them deadly, I'm afraid, but as an anti-weapon device, it's pretty cool."

Ronon look at him with incredularity. "So how does this help use if we can't use our rifles?"

Rodney just shook his finger. "We can use our rifles just fine until I turn it on remotely. At this setting, energy weapons are immune to the field effects. Your pistol and the Wraith stunners I happened to bring alone will work just fine."

Whilst he might not know a whole lot about science, he did pay attention to his briefings and knew that nuclear reactors the Genii used to power their cities. And he knew enough about nuclear power to know that they were a high-energy reaction. "McKay, isn't this field of yours going to shut down the nuclear reactor powering the city? That's going to give the soldiers around here a hell of clue something's wrong."

Grinning, McKay threw the bag of stunners at Ronon and pulled a mobile-phone sized device from a zip pocket on his arm and a knife from a chest pocket.

"It's a good thing I'm so smart or you might just have to do some more work around here. We don't have to worry about that because the Genii will shut down the reactor for us."

Stepping over to a tightly bound bunch of cables that passed from one wall to the other, he carefully stripped the insulation from one of the cables and affixed the device to it. Pressing a couple of buttons, the device lit up and McKay made a noise of satisfaction.

"You mentioned that back at Atlantis. I assumed you were going to cause an overload. Are you going to use this?" Ronon wondered, gesturing to the field emitter.

McKay shook his head. "Hell no, that's far too risky." He pointed towards the device he had attached to the cable trunk. "That's a signal splicer tied directly into their main sensor feed. On my signal, I'll activate it and they'll suddenly think a Hive Ship just dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system. Faced with that, the Genii will shut down every power source they have leaving them deaf, dumb and blind."

The Chief Scientist of the Atlantis Expedition looked inordinately smug with himself. "Hell, if I time it right, we'll be able to get in, grab Jennifer and get out without anyone realizing we were there."

He picked up his P-90 and smiled at Ronon. "Shall we get going?"

.

.

.

.

NOTES:

Ooo...two updates in 24 hours...i think i'm making the WHL folks jealous! :)

Well, things are heating up a little now...

McKay's doing his thing...

We've all seen how well that's turned out in the past! Fortunately, they'll be no Exploding Planets™ in this fic.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Merik Daron stalked the Genii Command Centre like some vengeful GOd, his anger simmering just below the surface.

His subordinates glanced at each other nervously as he walked past, each praying to Gods they no longer believed in that his attention would not fall upon them for they were not likely to survive the experience.

Daron was angry because the news from his logistics people wasn't good.

They were going to have to start rationing the medicine used to fight the Novan Plague immediately or they would run out entirely within the week.

Like Kolya and the other leaders of the Genii, he knew himself to be the most cold, merciless person you could meet to outsiders but like the others, he too loved every blade of grass, ever rock and every citizen of Genii.

Everything he did was for his people and his world.

And once again, the never-sufficiently-damned Atlanteans were preventing him from curing his people of this terrible plague.

The doctor was stalling. He knew it. But he didn't have any way of motivating her short of killing some of her people.

UNLIKE Kolya, he was reluctant to do so, not from any squeamishness but from the fact thet they had only captured medical personnel on the Talian homeworld and it was those same personnel that was his worlds only hope.

He wasn't desperate enough to start reducing his chances of developing a cure just yet.

The failed Atlantean probe was also another pinprick of annoyance.

The damned commander of Atlantis had said little regarding that event, acting as if it had never happened.

Merik smiled thinly. It was no different as to how he would have reacted in that situation either. The probe must have revealed to them how utterly useless a rescue attempt would prove against the forces stationed on the surface.

He would give the good doctor Keller another day or so before he contacted Atlantis and revealed their current situation to them. Maybe someone on their shiny city would be able to create a cure.

If they ever wanted to see their doctors again, they had better hope they can.

"Sir?"

Merik stopped his pacing and turned round to face the young soldier standing to attention. He would have to keep an eye of this one. Brave it was, to approach him in his current mood.

"Soren." He replied, his memory have supplied the name quickly. "What is it?"

THe young woman took a deep breath. "I've not been able to reach a patrol in Quadrant Four."

Merik said nothing and the female soldier flushed slightly. "I tried to contact them a dozen times with no success. I routed a nearby patrol to investigate but i've had no word from them as yet."

Satisfied with her actions so far, Merik gave her a nod of approval. Any soldier who didn't show a modicum of initiative was useless as afar as he was concerned.

"Quadrant Four is near to..."

Whatever Merik was going to say was cut off as a shrill alarm began to bleat insistently and, at the chilling sound, his the blood drained from his face.

The occupants of the Command Centre burst into action, reports of events overlapping in a chorus of noise as Merick stood in the centre of the storm and absorbed it all.

"Picking up a single Wraith Hive ship. Right at the edge of the system."

"The Minister has received the alert and is en-route. ETA, ten minutes."

"It looks like the Hive ship is heading to the outermost planet and is going to be working they're way in-system."

Merik shook his head slightly. Depending on how long they stay on each planet, they coul reach us in two hours or two days.

"Camoflage teams are responding and heading to the surface."

"Reactor Central Control responds and is beginning to initiate powerdown in four minutes. Total time to somplete shutdown, five minutes."

Merik spun at that report. "Negative, I want complete shutdown in less than three! No excuses!"

Dammit, if the Hive pick up those reactor signatures, we're done for. It had been far too long since the last Hive probe. The people in RCC had gotten sloppy.

He paled once more.  
The soldiers on the surface! It would take far to long to get them all back below the surface and the camoflage teams were already heading to the major entrances to seal them up!

"Send a message to the company on the surface. Order them to evacuate to In'vehesh and take refuge with our allies there until we signal the all clear!"

The communications soldier sent the message out immediately as another backed into the Command Centre unreeling a thick cable for the sound-powered phones that would replace the electronic ones once the power was shut down.

Things continued in this vein for the enxt couple of minutes. People came and went, Merik sent as as many orders as he could while he still had easy communications with the other cities.

Despite all of this, Merik hadn't forgotten that young soldier's report of the missing patrol. ONce he finally judge things in hand, at least long enough for him to step back for a few seconds, he turned to her once more.

"Soren, I want you to assemble a team. Take twenty men. Head to Quadrant Four and find out what happened to my patrol. Understand?"

She nodded firmly.

He watched her leave and was about to check on the status of the sacrificial volunteers on the surface when the lights went out.

* * *

Rodney switched on his gun-mounted light and smirked at Ronon. "Easy as pie."

The big Satedan grumbled under his breath about showoff scientists and prayed they'd run into another patrol.

He needed to hit someone. "Which way?" He asked as they came to yet another intersection.

"Left." Rodney replied, eyeing the scanner.

The walked on silently, in the dark, for a while before Rodney started talking quietly.

"She asked me to marry her, you know. Can you believe that?"

Ronon snorted in amusement. "Easily. She's crazy for you."

There was a seconds worth of silence. "Don't the men ask the women on your world?"

McKay snorted, he wanted to be offended but he couldn't help but laugh.

"They do but I think it's pretty clear to everyone that i'm useless when it comes to emotions and relationships."

"You seem to have done okay so far." Ronon replied simply. "What did say to her?"

McKay made a noise of disgust. "I made a joke of it and avoided the question. Not that she flat out proposed, of course, but she did suggest the idea and like an idiot, I choked. Jen, being Jen, let me off the hook."

"You're an idiot." Ronon replied flatly.

Rodney nodded back in the dark. "I know. Once we get back to Atlantis, we'll stop long enough to get chewed out by Woolsey and we'll all head to Earth. Her folks would kill me if I married their little girl without them being there."

Rodney muttered darkly. _Her old man wants to kill me for touching his daughter anyway...may as well give him more incentive._

He stopped and looked at the big man. "I'm going to ask Sheppard to be my Best Man but I want you to stand up with him, as well."

"I'd be honoured." Ronon replied firmly.

Rodney started walking again, satisfied.

"Now we just have to get her off this damned rock..."

Ronon came to yet another intersection.

"Right."

.

.

.

.

NOTES:

i'm really wanting to see McKay and Keller's dad now... Might save that bunny for NTKG 3. :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Jennifer made another notation on her clipboard of notes but she was essentially marking time. The analysis, despite the low-tech gear the Genii has supplied, was complete and pretty much agreed with her earlier and more thorough investigation made with Lantean tech.

The Novan Plague was easy to cure; even the Genii had figured that one out, it just required massive application of anti-virals.

However, Genii medical logistics had been stretched beyond breaking capacity and they had literally nothing left. She wasn't sure they were going to be willing to listen to her advice and ask Atlantis for help in mass production of the required medicine, something the factory/labs of the Ancient city could produce with ease.

Right now, she was trying to come up with a way of her Genii captors to listen to reason and couch her suggestion in a way that didn't result in the Genii torturing her people in order to be 'more co-operative'.

All of a sudden, the lights went out, dropping the barebones medical facility into darkness. Seconds later, dim emergency lights came on and provided everyone with a modicum of illumination.

She glanced at the two Genii guards by the door who were watching her people somewhat nervously as a third seemed to be talky quietly but furiously into his radio.

Turning back to her people to somehow reassure them, she found herself meeting Mike's eyes across the lab. The wide grin on his face caused her to smile. She had no doubt as to what he was thinking.

_Rodney_.

* * *

Wondering how the hell he managed to get himself into these situations, Rodney cursed quietly as his scanner picked up the appearence of twenty plus lifesigns, heading his way. "Hold up."

Ronan, who was on point, dropped to one knee and watched the corridor even more intently, if that was possible. Without taking his eyes off the corridor, he turned his head slightly. "What you got?"

"Twenty two lifesigns, i'm guessing a squad of Genii soldiers, heading our way. They must be missing those four guys we took out back there."

"We can't take a whole squad on our own." Ronan bit out, looking like he was itching to try, just to prove himself wrong.

McKay nodded. He was already looking for a bolthole. "We passed a bunch of storage rooms in that last corridor, let's hide in there. We'll let them pass and then make our way to Jen and the others. Once we're armed our folks and turned on the emitter, we can bust our way out with no problems."

Ronon nodded in agreement. "Let's go."

* * *

Back in Atlantis, Woolsey sat in his office overlooking the Operations Centre, his mind working furiously. Yes, he was angry at McKay for forcing the issue but he found himself even more angry at himself.

In the earlier negotiations with the Genii, he realised he had found himself closer to 'appeasment with a hostile nation' that he ever thought he would come. yes, he was a massive proponent of giving peace a chance but the Genii, in every interaction with Atlantis, had been the aggressors and shown absolutely no inclination of creating, sharing or even enduring a peace.

No. The Genii had no interest in living peacefully and frankly, his responsibility was to his people and not to some abstract peace upon which the lives of said people were sacrificed.

_Colonel Caldwell had it right when he said the Fleet wasn't in the business of blowing up planets any more but maybe there was a way to get the message across without wholesale slaughter..._

A bright glow coming from beyond Operations caught his eye and he watched as two figures beamed into the Tower. Nodding politely, they headed towards his office.

Woolsey took a firm grasp on his raging thoughts and a deep breath. He was about to change foreign policy with regards to the Genii in the Pegasus Galaxy. The doors to his office slid open smoothly and two Chinese gentlemen stepped inside. Woolsey stood up in greeting.

"Welcome back, Colonel Hsiang. I trust your patrol went smoothly."

The Chinese commander of the _Sun Tzu_ nodded agreeably. "We encounted a single Wraith cruiser, probing the border. It refused to engage and hyperspaced back to its territory before we could range on it. The full patrol report is uploading to Atlantis as we speak. My executive officer informs me that the shipyard teams are already crawling over my ship, resupplying and preparing to ship us out almost immediately. What is the urgency?"

Woolsey gestured for his guests to sit and followed suit, relaxing somewhat in his own chair.

"There have been some developments regarding the Genii and whilst I expect the situation to resolve itself shortly, i would like you and your people to send a message..."

.

.

NOTES: Let's just say i'm back in the game somewhat. i know its been four years (holy crap) but lets just say its a period in my life i'm happy to put behind me.

Back to the writing! Full steam ahead and damn the torpedos...

the next bit of WHL is in beta and will get it up as soon as possible.


End file.
